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Ernest Lawson was a Canadian-American painter, the only landscapist in the famous art group The Eight. Ernest Lawson’s work falls between Impressionism and Realism, and captures both landscape and cityscape. He was born in Nova Scotia on March 22, 1873, and spent his boyhood in Ontario. His family moved to Kansas City when Ernest Lawson was young, yet he did not join them until the age of fifteen, at which time he began to study at the Kansas Art Institute and work as a textile designer. Ernest Lawson moved to New York to study at the Art Students League in New York in 1891, and completed his art education at the Académie Julian in France in 1893. He remained in France until 1898 when he often traveled to the countryside to practice plein-air style painting. He began to display during this time, exhibiting at the Paris Salon in 1894. Upon his return to the United States in 1898, Ernest Lawson began to accumulate fame and prizes quickly. In 1904, he won two silver medals at the Universal Exposition in St. Louis. In 1908, he joined The Eight as one of their founding members. Later, in 1916, he won the Corcoran Art Prize. Ernest Lawson worked in New York cityscapes and often traveled around the Hudson River Valley to capture serene landscape works. He worked as a professor for much of his later career. Ernest Lawson is considered one of the founders of modern Canadian art. His work is considered integral to the bridge between Impressionism and Realism. He died in 1939.